Dynamic Reading

Studies in the Reception of Epicureanism

Edited by Brooke Holmes and W. H. Shearin

Description

Dynamic Reading examines the reception history of Epicurean philosophy through a series of eleven case studies, which range chronologically from the latter days of the Roman Republic to late twentieth-century France and America. Rather than attempting to separate an original Epicureanism from its later readings and misreadings, this collection studies the philosophy together with its subsequent reception, focusing in particular on the ways in which it has provided terms and conceptual tools for defining how we read and respond to texts, artwork, and the world more generally. Whether it helps us to characterize the "swerviness" of literary influence, the transformative effects of philosophy, or the "events" that shape history, Epicureanism has been a dynamic force in
the intellectual history of the West. These essays seek to capture some of that dynamism.

Dynamic Reading

Studies in the Reception of Epicureanism

Edited by Brooke Holmes and W. H. Shearin

Table of Contents

Introduction, Brooke Holmes and W. H. Shearin1. Haunting Nepos: Atticus and the Performance of Roman Epicurean Death, W. H. Shearin2. Epicurus's Mistresses: Pleasure, Authority, and Gender in the Reception of the Kuriai Doxai in the Second Sophistic, Richard Fletcher3. Reading for Pleasure: Disaster and Digression in the First Renaissance Commentary on Lucretius, Gerard Passannante4. Discourse ex nihilo: Epicurus and Lucretius in Sixteenth-century England, Adam Rzepka5. Engendering Modernity: Epicurean Women from Lucretius to Rousseau, Natania Meeker6. Oscillate and Reflect: La Mettrie, Materialist Physiology, and the Revival of the Epicurean Canonic, James Steintrager7. Sensual Idealism: The Spirit of Epicurus and the Politics of
Finitude in Kant and Hölderlin, Anthony Adler8. The Sublime, Today?, Glenn Most9. From Heresy to Nature: Leo Strauss's History of Modern Epicureanism, Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft10. Epicurean Presences in Foucault's The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Alain Gigandet11. Deleuze, Lucretius, and the Simulacrum of Naturalism, Brooke HolmesBibliographyIndex

Dynamic Reading

Studies in the Reception of Epicureanism

Edited by Brooke Holmes and W. H. Shearin

Author Information

Brooke Holmes is Assistant Professor of Classics at Princeton University.

W. H. Shearin is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Miami.

Contributors:

Brooke Holmes, Princeton UniversityW. H. Shearin, University of Miami Richard Fletcher, The Ohio State University Gerard Passannante, University of Maryland, College ParkAdam Rzepka, Stanford UniversityNatania Meeker, University of Southern CaliforniaJames Steintrager, University of California, IrvineAnthony Adler, Yonsei University (South Korea)Glenn Most, Scuola Normale Superiore de Pisa and the University of ChicagoBenjamin Aldes Wurgaft, The New School for Social ResearchAlain Gigandet, Université de Paris Est (XII)

Dynamic Reading

Studies in the Reception of Epicureanism

Edited by Brooke Holmes and W. H. Shearin

Reviews and Awards

"Dynamic Reading is an exciting experiment in perspective. Eleven essays by a range of distinguished scholars come at the Epicurean inheritance from radically different angles, from an ancient Roman who starved himself to death to Mark Rothko, from a 'whore's doctrine of pleasure' to the philosophy of Giles Deleuze. The volume bears witness to the haunting ambiguity of Epicureanism and to its continuing vitality."--Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

"This volume represents reception criticism at its best. The contributors combine an expert knowledge of Lucretius and Epicureanism with a thorough mastery of the later texts and contexts in which Epicureanism resurfaced, from a near contemporary of Lucretius on down to the Renaissance and early modern periods, Kant and his contemporaries, and recent thinkers like Foucault, Deleuze, and Leo Strauss. The essays are informed by modern literary theory, and at the same time bring to light little known areas of Epicurean influence, such as digressive notes in an early commentary on Lucretius and unsuspected echoes of Epicureanism in Hölderlin and Mark Rothko. There is something new on virtually every page."-David Konstan, author of Before Forgiveness: The Origins of a MoralIdea